Kendrick Lamar made his acting debut on Sunday (July 29) on the 50 Cent-produced drama, Power. In the new episode — titled “Happy Birthday” – K. Dot plays a homeless drug addict named Laces.
Ahead of the episode, Lamar shared a photo of himself in character to his Twitter account.
“My name, is my name,” he wrote. “Ask me again, i’ll tell you the same #PowerTV.”
Courtney Kemp — Power’s creator and producer — told the Associated Press the Compton MC’s relationship with Fiddy played a key role in K. Dot’s appearance on the show.
“He and Kendrick … were hanging out and Kendrick said, ‘I’d really like to be on the show,’ and you know it goes from there. He’s really gifted, tremendously gifted. I mean it’s a total transformation. It is not a version of Kendrick Lamar that you’ve ever seen before. So it’s very exciting.”
Evidently, plenty of his fans and peers felt the same way. Joey Bada$$ and his tour DJ Powers Pleasant tweeted about K. Dot’s role and acting ability, while TDE’s Punch compared him to Denzel Washington.
Check out some of the reactions below. [apple_news_ad type=”any”]
#Kendrickis2018Pookie
King MFing Kendrick!
Acting was mediocre.
Love Kendrick to def, but this shit was trash, . Anybody that says he is a good actor is bs you can’t tell
by this dumb ass role. You need a lot more to go off of than this role. I just don’t know why he would do a role like this, Either Kendrick and tde really owe some huge favors or kendrick has absolutely no control over his moves. I don’t buy into the trying to get a foot in the door artistic crap, he’s kendrick lamar, he could have played a teacher, preacher, garbage man, lawyer, coach, cop, insurance man, store owner, barber he had to be a crackhead????? Really? Kendrick is not my favorite rapper but he is the best rapper right now skill wise, but for some reason they seemed to water him down maybe to make him less powerful or something IDK because he’s had the opportunity to be extremely powerful and he is missing the train, his albums are becoming more water down thy will never let him make another section 80
Man who the fuck is you? ?. You sound like a hater fr. Kendrick did his thing. I wonder how well your life is going….. You should probably never review a movie/tv show again. It’s obvious that hate lives in you from the way you write. If you were as passionate about winning as you are about hating you might get somewhere. Pray for you.
Did you read all of what I wrote or just part of it and decide you would respond. So me saying Kendrick is the best rapper is Hating????? When you read that I said that, you should’ve known I’m not a hater. So me not wanting to see one of the most thought provoking, powerful rappers since maybe tupac play a crack head is hating??? When I said that shit was trash I don’t mean Kendrick, but the character it was dumb asf. To me Kendrick is WAY BIGGER that to be playing a crackhead or at least I think so you don’t??? I don’t think people pay attention. Every time we get something or someone with potential mega power and the understanding of how to use it, they do 3 things to that something, they push them in a corner force them to defend themselves once they start defending themselves the title of crazy is thrown on them to discredit them. 2nd thing they water them down, over commercialized them put them in humiliating acts to remotely mentality stabilize to be non threatening I feel like this is whats going on with kendrick ,him and drake are the top rappers, what management team? Artist would do a crackhead role while they are at the top in their prime??? 3rd thing they do is just flat out kill you. Def no hating though at all, just don’t want to see kendrick like that that’s all.
#Facts
To Re charge.It’s a start in a whole different career. Acting is totally different. Five more gigs in different roles and your opinion will change. He’s humble enough to start there. Look at it that way.
Tupac played a heroin addict in Gridlock’d
I get what you mean but he’s just acting it’s not that serious. Kendrick’s social commentary is dope to hear in his raps but he is merely an artist he’s not a voice of the people he’s just another perspective of life. He’s not a 2pac nor does the world necessarily need a 2pac in regards to his revolutionary mindset. He doesn’t have to be some prolific being in all his raps or all his other ventures. The article states he spoke to 50 and wanted to be on the show and this is how they wrote him in and it worked for what it was. I don’t see any hidden agenda or some industry ploy to redefine his image or anything like that it was just something he wanted to do. In respects to his music being watered down I will say that is subjective as I thought “To Pimp a Butterfly” had a little more depth than Section.80 though I enjoy all his albums so I think it’s up to him what kind of music he puts out whether it’s complex or easily accessible. I think he is still one of the biggest stars in hip hop and praised as one of the better lyricists of today but he’s just an artist.
who gives a fuck halle berry played a crack head chris rock played a crack head it was early in there careers but this is kendricks first role u gotta relax it Aint that deep his music career has nothing to do with his acting career u worried bout his image as an actor as if it’s real life.. u need to stfu with ur dumb as suggestings .. talkin bout he couldve played a teacher or a preacher man stfu that shit sound way too predictable of a role for him to play u corny af
it’s already bad enough dummies like u look to him as some super savior thats gonna heal the world and he shouldnt have any type of negative image of himself cause he’s holier than thou.. he writes songs just for idiots like urself
good show and a good episode. The birthday cake at the end had me in tears
Kendrick the aside from Jigga, Black Thought and Lauryn Hill is the greatest living rapper.
If this didn’t hurt your heart as a fan of King Kendrick you not a real fan. This dude is not suppose to be playing a druggy something’s not right.
Drama queen, it’s acting. Relax
He was a druggy, but if you listen (like most homeless people) between all the jumping around and craziness he dropping real truth. “they try to make a different race (read: not all human race). they try to separate us, tell us we different, cause of skin. but put us all in a blender and you see we all the same…pink like pussy papa” facts haha. GREAT character. bet he shows up again too. Knan prolly need him, or Ghost use him to get at Knan
Power is trash. Love Kendrick, but the show itself is trash. Acting and plots are bad. Tried getting into it. Could not. I know there aren’t many black shows, but I guess this is why everyone loves it. Nothing like The Wire.
yeah, its not the wire but that’s all time great. That’s like illmatic. Power is a great show, great great writing. The tension and unspolen energy in so many scenes through all the seasons. Power is definitely dope. Like Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, def classic.
That’s a NO from me Dawg! Kendrick Rapping > Kendrick Acting. But, nice try though.
Best rapper alive fo so but worst character I’ve ever seen on power. That’s basically what you get when something is forced